Birthday Surprise
by upriserseven
Summary: When Abby explained it, it explained her crying and Tony's depression.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **So this is my latest story, and my first NCIS story. I know that this is obviously post-Twilight and therefore the pairing won't make sense but trust me, kay??

**Disclaimer: **Like I would have let Sasha leave! And if I had have let her leave, I would have written out a suitable Tate ending for her!!

* * *

McGee looked up from his desk to see that Tony still wasn't in.

"Hey, Ziva!"

"Yeah?"

"It's 9:55."

"Your point?"

"Where's Tony?" Ziva shrugged off the question and went back to the stack of paperwork on her desk, wondering how she had let it get this bad, or, for that matter, how Gibbs had let her. McGee went back to worrying. Glancing at his watch, He noticed there was three minutes until Gibbs would be back.

He decided to go down to Abby and see if Tony was there. When he got there, he saw the usually chipper lab technician looking miserable. Her pigtails were down and she wasn't wearing any make-up. In fact, she almost looked like she had been crying. Tim cleared his throat, startling Abby. After hiding something quickly behind her back, Abby turned around.

"Hey!" Abby plastered a fake smile on her face and faked a happy voice. "Please say you have something for me to do."

"Sorry, no. I was wondering if you knew why Tony's not in yet."

"Crap. He did this last year too." Abby immediately picked up her phone and punched in a number.

"Did what? Is it an important date today or something? What's going on?" She slammed in her phone, obviously in a frustrated state.

"He gets all depressed. Last year he drank himself half to death. I'm worried that he might do something really stupid." Abby punched in another number.

"What is it about this date, Abs?"

As soon as Abby said it, it explained her crying and Tony being depressed.

"Today would have been Kate's birthday, McGee."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: **This is longer than my last chapter!! YAY!! I'm totally shocked and moved by the response my first chapter got! That's more than anythng else I've ever written. So thanks to everyone that reviewed, it means a lot to me.

**Disclaimer: **Getting me to admit I don't own this is torture but I don't own NCIS unfortunately. If I did, Ziva would die in the same way Kate did, only longer lasting and very very very painful!!

* * *

Tony was still in bed when he heard his phone ring. He was just about to get up and answer it when he noticed three missed calls on his cellphone and his home phone stopped ringing. He looked at the screen, 'Abs'. He didn't want to worry her after what he had done last year, so he called her. After around a second of ringing, Abby picked up the phone.

"Tony? Are you okay? Why didn't you answer?"

"I was asleep, I just saw your calls. I'm fine. Well, not 'fine,' obviously, 'cause, well, y'know. But, yeah, I'm healthy and not about to do anything stupid."

"Take it you're not coming into work?"

"No. Tell Gibbs I'm sick or something, 'kay? I have someone I have to go see."

"Sure. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah." They both hung up and Abby told McGee that Tony was okay and not coming into work that day. Neither were looking forward to telling Gibbs.

After Tony had hung up the phone, he started to get ready. His mind was drifting back to Kate.

_FLASHBACK:_

_They were lying in beds next to each other, neither saying a word and yet both surprisingly comfortable. _

_"Hey, Kate." Tony rolled onto his side and faced Kate._

_"Yeah?" Caitlin mirrored his action and they were looking directly into each other's eyes._

_"Why did you stay with me? I mean, I know you had the mask and stuff so you weren't really at risk of infection, but why'd you stay?"_

_"Well, if I'm completely honest, DiNozzo, I didn't really think about it 'til now. I mean it was just my gut reaction. I guess I figured you could use a friend."_

_"Well, thanks." Tony paused and looked at Kate for a moment. "Although, I don't see you as a friend." Kate raised an eyebrow at Tony. "No! I mean, I see you as more than a friend." At that moment Tony wished he had Kate's profiling skills. That way he might've gotten something from her non-verbal reaction. After what was probably only a minute, but seemed like a lifetime, she smiled._

_"You mean that, Tony? I mean, what exactly do you mean, Tony?" She looked nervous. _

'Choose your words carefully, DiNozzo'_ was the only thing running through Tony's mind. "I mean that, earlier, I was dying, Kate. And the only thing that I could think was 'now Kate's never gonna know how I feel.' It scared the hell outta me. I think, well, I know, that for a while now, I've gotten feelings that I've never gotten before. I just want you to know that, I know you probably don't feel the same but, I love you, Kate." He mumbled all of this whilst staring at the ground. As soon as he was finished, he looked Kate directly in the eyes for a split second and looked away, mumbling something about needing sleep._

_"What? I don't even get to respond to that?" Tony turned around to see Kate smiling. He nodded for her to say whatever it was that she wanted to say. "What makes you think I wouldn't feel the same? I thought I'd made it painfully obvious. At least I know I can be subtle." Kate knew that she was giggling like a schoolgirl with a crush, but she didn't care. "Tony, I've never felt like this either. I love you too." She slid off her own bed and moved to sit next to Tony. They looked at each other for a second._

_"Fine, Tony, be selfish, see if I care." He shot her a confused look before realizing what she meant._

_"Oh, sorry, sweetie." She smiled at the pet name and he moved up so she could lie next to him on his bed. They faced each other and noticed their faces were awfully close. "Y'know, I think it would just be wrong for us not to kiss right now, Kate." She laughed and they shared a first kiss where they were more comfortable than either one of them would have imagined. "Wow, Katie, you can kiss!"_

_"Don't be so surprised, DiNozzo. And you're not too bad yourself. I should move back over ther., Brad and Emma see us like this in the morning and you know they're gonna tell Gibbs." She smiled at him and kissed him again. "You know, I don't think I'm ever gonna get tired of doing that, Tony." _

_"Me neither. I should get some sleep anyway. Something tells me I'm going to be distracted from managing that if you stay over here." She raised her eyebrows and flashed him a mischievous smile. They both laughed and Kate got up and walked the few inches to her own bed. There was another couple of minutes of comfortable silence before Kate broke it._

_"We can't tell anybody. We're breaking Rule Number 12 here." She felt it necessary to say this, even though he obviously knew._

_"Yeah, sweetie, I know. When we've been together a while then we can tell people 'cause we can prove that it hasn't interfered with our work."_

_"Yeah, good idea, _sweetie._" Caitlin made a point to emphasize the word before blowing him a kiss. "Nighty Night, Tony." _

_"Don't let the bed bugs bite, Katie." _

_As Kate fell asleep, she felt like she was 11 again as she thought about how the name Caitlin DiNozzo sounded in her head._

_FLASHBACK OVER:_

Tony smiled as he thought about what had happened between him and Kate. Even though the day had pretty much sucked, that night had been the best of his life. It was as if that one night had erased any stupid mistake he had made. Almost as if, that would be the beginning of his new life. As far as everyone else knew, that was just another night. To him, it would always have a special place in his heart. Tony's phone started to ring, startling him. He looked at the caller ID, 'Dan'.

"Hey, Dan. What d'ya get for me?"

"Caitlin Todd? Yeah, how come you only asked me to check out the kids thing?"

"Following a hunch. Gimme some answers Danny."

"OK, just asking a simple question, SexMachine. One child, daughter, Isobel Sasha Todd. Now aged 16 and living in Washington DC."

"Washington DC? Katie moved her out here to her. I gotta talk to this kid. Got me an address or something?"

"No address, unfortunately, but I do have a place of employment for you. Joe's Coffee, little place."

"Yeah, I know it. Kate used to go in there."

"Why you wanna speak to this girl anyway?" Before Dan could question in anymore, Tony did a Gibbs and hung up without a word.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **This has taken a while I know. But I have my reasons. Eh, no I dont. I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I love you too much. I was just too damn lazy to sit and type this up. Now that I have, it doesnt seem that long but I dont know. So if its short then I apologize.

**Disclaimer: **I still dont own them. Shocking isn't it? I do however own the character of Isobel Sasha Todd, and I'm very proud of her.

* * *

Tony walked into Joe's Coffee, not really sure what he was going to say. The place seemed to be empty except for an old couple sitting by the window that were deep in a discussion that appeared to be about golf. Just as he was about to interrupt and ask if they knew where there was an employee he could talk to, a tall red-headed girl came out behind the counter.

"Hey there." The girl smiled at him. "What can I get you?"

"Some information, I was hoping." Tony smiled back at the girl, who now had a confused look on her face.

"I may be able to help you, depending on what information you want."

"I'm looking for an Isobel Todd."

"A specific Isobel Todd or any girl by that name?" The girl flashed a mischeivous smile and then laughed. "Well, you found her. What can I do for you?"

"You're Isobel Todd?" The girl nodded. "Isobel Sasha Todd?" Once again the girl nodded. Suddenly, Tony was panicked. Why had he come here? What was he going to say to her? Before he even thought about anything else, Tony ran out. He was just about to jump into his car when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Let me guess. You're Tony DiNozzo?"

"Yeah. How did you know that?"

"Just a hunch. My mom told me a lot about you." The girl looked down at her feet. "She really loved you, you know." This time is was Tony's turn to look away.

"Yeah. I loved her too." He smiled sadly at the girl. "Look, if it's ok, I'd love to talk to you some more about her. Maybe not today, I get that that would be hard for you, but..." Izzie cut him off.

"No, today is fine. I'm just about to take my break if you wanna go for a walk or something."

'Yeah, I'd like that."

"OK, cool. Just wait here, and I'll go get my coat. I'm gonna buy myself some ice-cream." she smiled as she said this and jogged inside. When she emerged minutes later, she had not only fetched a jacket, but a scarf, coat and gloves too. She was stuffing a 20 dollar bill into her jean pocket as she walked out, checking that her cellphone was in the other pocket.

"Right, I think I'm all ready." She smiled at Tony. It was a bright cheerful smile, and yet it still had that slight sarcastic touch to it.

"It must be part of the Todd charm."

"Excuse me?" Until she had responded, Tony wasn't sure he'd said it aloud.

"Your smile. You remind me of your mom a little when you smile."

"Oh, uh, thanks."

They walked in silence for a while until they came to a little ice-cream parlour on a corner. It was then that Tony realized that Izzie had be leading the way, obviously to a place that she came to a lot.

"You comin' in, Tony?"

"Yeah." They walked in, and immediately Tony loved the place. It was 50s themed and reminded him of the diner in 'Grease'. "Uh, you go sit down. I'll get this, what do you want?"

"Hmmm. I'll just have a strawberry sundae. And a coke." She went to get out the money she had put in her pocket earlier, but Tony stopped her.

"No, I'll buy this." She looked at him, unsure, "Seriously, I want to." She eventually nodded, although she still wasn't too happy about it.

10 minutes later, they had both finished their ice-cream and were now sitting sharing memories of Kate. Izzie was in the middle of telling him about the time she and her mom had spent Christmas with her mom's friends, Rosie and Jessie, at Rosie's house. They had been so caught up in presents, phone calls and Christmas TV that they had forgotten about the dinner and all ended up having noodles for dinner. The story was interrupted when Izzie's phone started to ring. She apologized and pulled it out of her pocket. Tony noted the look of horror on her face when she looked at the caller ID, but she calmly flipped it open and started her conversation.

"Hey. Yeah I'm fine, you? Good, look can I call you back later? Thanks. Yeah, bye." She put the phone back in her pocket and looked at Tony. "Sorry about that. Oh, crap look at the time. I have to be back at work."

"Well, I have to walk back to get my car so I'll come with you."

"Oki-Doki." They walked all the way talking more about Kate. When Tony told her the story of what happened after he nearly died. She just smiled.

"You already knew that story, didn't you?" This earned another 'classic Todd' smile.

"Yeah. She called me the next day all giggly like some 12 year old with a crush. I got a voicemail that was like 'Oh my gosh, honey. You know Tony? Well, a lot of stuff happened and I'd need way longer to go into it all, but basically, Tony said he loved me and I told him the same back. I need to tell you more, so call me when you get this message, please. Thanks, love you.' I don't know how she thought I could not know who you are, seeing as she talked about you non-stop."

"Really?" Tony started to smile.

"Oh God, you're doing the lame kid with a crush thing too. Yes, she was pretty much hopelessly in love with you for two years." The end of her sentence seemed to fit perfectly with the time that they reached the coffee shop. "Give me your cellphone." Tony wasn't sure why she wanted it, but he gave it to her anyway. She punched in a number and saved it. "My number is in your phone now. Call me if you ever want to talk, okay?"

"Sure. Bye." Izzie waved at him over her shoulder as she ran inside. She ran upstairs. She had lied. She didn't have to work now for another three hours. She just needed to make this phone call privately. She looked at her last call and hit the 'send' button when the number popped up on the screen,

"Hey, sorry I rushed you off the phone earlier. Happy Birthday."

_"Thanks sweetie. You okay?"_

"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks. You?"

_"Fine. It sucks being alone on your birthday though."_

"Aaw, poor Mommy." Izzie tried to put on her best 'little kiddie' voice.

_"Thanks, honey. So, where were you when I called earlier?"_

"Well, I was with Tony DiNozzo."

_"Tony? My Tony?" _

"Yes. Your Tony, he tracked me down. Wanted to talk. He misses you. It's heartbreaking, Mom. Nearly to the point where, for the first time ever, I wanted to spill the secret."

_"God, Izz, I want him to know but he cant. I want to speak to him, see him. Anything. I think I may risk coming down one day."_

"Mom, I don't know if you should. They're dangerous. At least, they could be if they found you."


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **I'm not sure why I take so long with my updates to be honest. It just does. Although I'm sure Jess will back me up that I was strugglin with this chapter. I have the others already written and seeing as we're not at school this week, I should get them typed up too. Oh and I really do want to say thank you to Jess, 'cause she helped me with this chapter, so thank you my goat-loving amigo.

**Disclaimer: **Once again, I own Isobel Sasha Todd, and I'm proud of her. That's all. Although I have NCIS season 2 on DVD and I have an mp3 of when Sasha sang 'Outrageous' in Terminal Leave... yes be jealous, for I am weird.

* * *

Tony sat at his desk pretending to be doing his paperwork. Truth was, he couldn't even remember what case the forms were about. He was staring at his watch every five minutes and checking that it matched the clock on the wall. That's why he didn't notice when Ziva walked up to his desk. He could just see her towering above his desk and looked up.

"What do you want?"

"You're being quiet. Solemn, even. Y'know, Tony, girls like that."

"Look, could you just leave me alone? Oh, forever, maybe?" Tony knew immediately that he shouldn't have said that. Not because he cared about how Ziva felt, but because he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head.

"Ow, Boss."

"What? I'm sure you deserved it. Anyway, you can go for your lunch now, Tony. Be back in an hour, no more, and preferably no less. I need some DiNozzo free time." Tony barely even heard the last part because he had gotten up and left as soon as he heard the words 'you can go.' It may have been seen as being rude, but he had a reason. Earlier that day, he'd had a phone call that he thought might make him need more than hour for his lunch break.

_FLASHBACK._

_Tony had been sitting at work, doing the paperwork for a recent case. A young girl, Debbie Marlin had been kidnapped by Petty Officer Adam Trent and they had discovered her body near a dumpster three days after she was reported as missing. Ziva had been staring at him on and off for the past hour and he was at the stage where he pretty much wanted to pull out his gun and shoot her in the face. He figured that then she may be more attractive. He was thinking about the easiest way to kill Ziva and make it seem like an accident when his phone rang._

_"DiNozzo."_

"Hey, it's Izzie."

_"Hey, somethin' wrong?" Tony surprised himself with how much he cared about this girl, considering he'd only known her just over a month. _

"No, just wondering if we could hang out another time. Only, I'm gonna be busy tomorrow."

_"Yeah, doing anything today?"_

"No. Lunch?"

_"Yeah, sure, the usual place?"_

"Yeah, the usual place, at one?"

_"Yeah, one. Seeya later, Fizzie."_

"Haha. Seeya later, Tony." _He hung up the phone and saw Ziva looking at him. _

_"New girlfriend, Tony?"_

_"No."_

_"Then who was that?"_

_"I really don't see why this is any of your business."_

_"Only asking."_

_"Well, don't." He thought about the connection he had made with Izzie in the past six weeks. They'd had lunch twice a week, always at the diner she'd taken him to the first time they'd met. At first, they would just share stories about Kate. But now they'd started to talk more about themselves. Izzie had told him about her school, and he'd learnt some things about her. She wrote, edited and was the photographer for her school newsletter. She was in her senior year, as she skipped two grades. She was an all-around over achiever, like her mom, but in a different way. She didn't seem to be pushing herself as Kate usually did. Overachieving seemed to come naturally to Izzie. Not only this, but Izzie had learned things about Tony. He'd told her about when he was a cop in Baltimore. He'd told her about his childhood, which was something he had only ever shared with Kate. And they were building this amazing connection. Which was why today, he had built up the courage to ask her something he'd wanted to ask for a while. Now, he just wanted to get to the diner so he could spend his lunch hour with her._

_END FLASHBACK_

He was sitting in their usual booth, waiting for Izzie. He glanced at his watch nervously, she was 10 minutes late. He was just about to call her when the door swung open and she walked over.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. Ooh, you already ordered for me, nice. Thanks, Tony." She sat down in front of her veggie burger and curly fries. She took a sip and smiled at the fact that Tony had remembered that she hated Diet Coke with a passion. For the simple reason that it tastes disgusting and doesn't actually taste like real Coke.

"You're welcome." He looked at her for a moment.

"I know that look, you want to ask me something. If it's why am I late, It was snowing and my mom always tells me to be careful in snow." He shot her a suspicious look. "She always _told_ me. I'm always doing that."

"That's not what I wanted to ask you. I don't want this to seem too much like I'm invading your privacy and I don't want to upset you or anything."

"Well, you don't know if you will until you ask, right?"

"Right. Here goes nothing. I was wondering what you know about your father." Izzie stopped mid-sip.

"Well, not a lot, to be honest. Mom's always kinda quiet about him and even if I ask, I just get brushed off about it." Izzie was interrupted by her phone. "Sorry, hold up a sec, 'kay?"

"Sure" Izzie got up and smiled into the phone. Tony couldn't hear a lot of the conversation but what he did hear definitely caught his attention. Until Izzie walked out of his hearing range with the phone, he heard something about 'not risking it' and 'they could be really dangerous if they caught you.' She came back up to the table and placed her phone on the table.

"I, sadly enough, am gonna have to leave. Something's come up with a friend of mine. I'm gonna use the restroom then buy some mentos for the road, and then I gotta leave, sorry."

"Hey, its, uh, its ok." As soon as Izzie had walked into the bathroom and she was safely out of sight, Tony grabbed her phone to see who she was talking to. He looked at her call log and his heart skipped a beat when he saw the last caller ID.

_Last Call: 12/02/07 1:25pm 'Mom'_


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Yeah, so it's not a great chapter, but it's a semi-filler. It's mostly because the next two chapters are OK as they are now, and I needed something to get there. I could have posted them following the previous one, but trust me when I say that would have made no sense whatsoever.

**Disclaimer: **I own; the storyline, the character of Isobel Sasha Todd, a pack of mentos and... yeah that's it. I do not own NCIS, damn!

* * *

Izzie was shocked when she walked out of the restroom and Tony had gone. She stood in shock seeing her cellphone open on the table.. She ran over to it and saw that it was open to the call log.

"Oh, crap." Completely forgetting to buy her mentos, she grabbed her stuff and ran out, hoping to catch up with Tony. Unfortunately, she had no such luck. That was when she knew she had to admit her slip up. She pressed speed-dial 1 and hit send. She heard the familiar tone that pointed out to her that her mom was already on the phone. She slammed it shut and threw it in her bag. This couldn't end well, not for anyone. She knew she had to go to work, so she decided to set off and wait for the worst phone call of her life.

Tony was sitting in his car around the corner from the diner. He had seen Izzie walk out, obviously looking for him. Luckily, his car was in the shop and he was currently driving a rental, so she didn't recognize his car. He picked up his phone and called the number he had just saved. The number that supposedly belonged to Kate. His Kate. He couldn't believe it. He knew it wasn't her, he just knew it. He just had to check. He called the nervously and waited for a response. After a few seconds, he got one,

_"Hello." _Tony sat, his mouth open, his eyes wide. He'd recognize that voice anywhere.

_"Hello? Is anyone there?" _What was he supposed to say, 'Oh hey, Katie. You sound pretty good, y'know considering.' No, he couldn't do that. But what could he do? What do you do when you find out that your girlfriend isn't really dead? Laugh about it and say, 'oh, you got me'?

_"Seriously, is anyone there?" _He could hear her sighing, he didn't want her to hang up. No matter what was happening, there could be a good reason for... for what? What was even happening? All Tony knew was that he wanted to hear her voice for longer.

"So it's true then. My fears and suspicions confirmed."

_"Well, you, uh, you always had good instincts?"_ It was more of a question than anything else. There was a pause for a minute or so. _"Sorry, that, that was lame. How did you...?"_

"Izzie screwed up a little."

_"That girl can't keep a secret to save her life. What'd she do?"_

"Well, there was all the suspicious phone calls…all the time. And she mixes up the tenses a lot, y'know.. 'my mom always says...' stuff like that."

_"And always one to be suspicious, you snooped on her phone and found out who she was talking to?"_

"Yeah. Well, her phone was on the table."

_"In plain sight."_

"Yeah, plain sight."

_"You ever gonna ask me, Tony?"_

"What the hell is going on, you're supposed to be…"

_"Dead. I know, but I'm not. And I know, I know, you saw the bullet go through my head, you saw me in the morgue, you went to my funeral. But, you weren't allowed to know. Trust me, I tried, I really did, but it was 'only immediate family,' and... I don't want to tell you about this over the phone, Tony. I want to see you. No, I need to see you. Can we meet, Tony?"_

"Where? How? When? I mean, I want to, but how would we manage that?"

_"I don't know, Tony. Look, I live in Vegas now. Only, nobody is supposed to know that beside my parents and Izz. Even my brothers don't know. I mean, they know I'm not... but they don't know where I am" _

"So, Vegas? Are you asking me to come out to you?"

_"Yeah. I mean I don't know if you can, or if you'd even want to, but.."_

"I'll make it possible. And I want to, more than anything else I want to."

_"So, you'll come?" _

"Yeah. Can I call you when its confirmed and you can tell me where?"

_"Yeah, you can come anytime. Not like I have anything better to do. Actually, can you email me?"_

"OK. Uh, I need your email address..."

_"Oh, yeah. It's, wow, this is embarrassing. Just know that I needed a new surname and this was not my idea. Its caitlindinozzo at moodle dot com" _

"Oooh. DiNozzo, eh?"

_"Yeah, well, to get your new surname, they give you the surname of someone you used to work with and the dumbasses picked DiNozzo."  
_  
"Who are 'they' Kate?"

_"Can I tell you when I see you, please?"_

"Yeah, of course. And, about the surname thing, as far as I'm concerned, it was written in the stars, Kate." He could practically hear her smiling over the phone.

_"Yeah, maybe it was. Look, I should go, and you should be getting to work, right?"_

"Aw, crap. Yeah, I should."

_"Bye, Tony."_

"Seeya. Oh, and Katie?"

_"Yeah?"_

"I love you."

_"I love you too, Tony. Bye"_ And with that she hung up, and Tony wondered how he was going to get time off and what excuse he was going to give to get it. He set off and found himself smiling for the rest of the day. Hell, he only thought up 3 ways to kill Ziva, this was a record and Tony knew he must be in a good mood.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** Gosh, finally. Sorry this took so long. I've been doing a lot of stuff this summer. I've also had my birthday. Yes that's right. I'm 15 now people. And then I started back at school a few days ago. I know that's no excuse, but writing comes in bursts for me. Sorry.

**Disclaimer: **NCIS is not mine. Surprised? I wouldn't be either. I own one character who's not even in this chapter, and I didn't even write the majority of this.

**THANK YOU: **Jess! Dude, you're amazing! I needed help when I was struggling and she wrote most of this chapter for me, I'm not gonna specify where her writing stops, I wanna see if people can guess. But you tried to my writing style, and you did it! I'll do that chapter/ intro for you in return I promise! Thanks Again to Jess (**thegreatbluespoon**) ily Jess

**Now: **on with the story, sorry for the wait!

* * *

Arriving at work a whole two hours early, Tony was still working on his excuse for Gibbs as to why he wasn't going to be at work for a while. Was he going to be at his grandmother's funeral, at some important undercover op that no one else was to know anything about, or was he just going to offer up some other lame reason once the boss' eyes came down hard on him? 

No one could withstand the looks Gibbs gave them. They all cracked and came out with the truth in the end…but not today. Today was Tony's day. He was overly confident…okay, a little more self-assured than normal, but nevertheless he was more than certain that Leroy Jethro Gibbs was _not_ going to get the best of good 'ol Tony DiNozzo today.

Sitting at his desk, taking care of a few last minute work things that always had to be handled before one went on vacation, Tony's mind wondered to Kate again. What was she doing right then as he did mind numbing things at his desk? What did her hair look like after this long? Did she still smell like she always did, like lavender and vanilla?

With his mind teaming with thoughts of Kate, the Director called him up for their meeting. He explained that he needed some time off for personal reasons. Laughing at his excuse because a man in his profession should be able to lie better, the Director explained that she knew what was really going on. She knew what he was talking about because Kate had made a few calls and, through her contacts, had gotten in touch with her. The Director knew enough of what was going on to know that Tony and Kate had to be kept private. She explained to him that it was of utmost importance that no one else knew where he was going or who he was going to see because if they did, surely nothing but bad things would come of it.

He knew the Director was speaking the truth and gave her his thanks for being so understanding.

On his way back to his desk, he noticed that Gibbs still wasn't there, making him breathe a little easier.

Noticing that Ziva and McGee were staring at him with a questioning look on their faces was just irritating him to no end.

He sighed, "What?"

"Nothing." McGee quickly responded.

Ziva just kept staring at him. Looking him up and down, a small smile made its way across her face.

"Last time I saw a face like that, I was at the zoo. What do you want, Ziva?"

"Ouch, Tony, there's no need to be so hateful." She chuckled and brushed off the comment, having heard many an insult from him before. "I…well, McGee and I were both wondering why you just had an hour long meeting with the Director that no one else was privy to. Care to answer?"

"My answer is that it's really none of your business and that, if it were, you would have been in the meeting with us." Tony said and went back to his desk to finish things before Gibbs got there.

Ziva stood for a moment with her mouth open in shock before she took her seat. She looked to McGee for an explanation of Tony's behavior, but he only had a shoulder shrug for a reply.

A few minutes later, Tony was just finishing up and Gibbs was just walking in. When asked why he was late, Gibbs replied that he wasn't, they were all just early.

Tony asked to speak with him in private before they got started with the day and Gibbs agreed with a look that said he really hadn't wanted to agree.

Heading off to a quiet corner, Tony told Gibbs exactly what he'd told the Director. Gibbs looked at Tony as if he should be wearing a helmet around the office.

"What?" Tony asked, confused.

"You really expect me to believe that crap, DiNozzo?"

"Uh-"

Gibbs started laughing quietly, causing Tony to look around in search of help.

"Tony, you've got two seconds to tell me what's wrong. No one goes to Vegas for _that_ and you know it. Think of a better lie."

Reminding himself of the danger he would be putting himself and Kate in and that today was his day of triumph, Tony told him that he didn't have to answer and that he just felt obligated to inform him about his leaving for a while.

"Not really in the mood for this, you know. Does it look like I'm in the mood for this, Tony? No, it doesn't. Spill."

Realizing that today was in fact _not_ his day of triumph, Tony sighed and explained that he had some unfinished business in Vegas that had to be taken care of.

"Tony?" Gibbs smiled, looking around.

"Yeah, Boss?"

"Your unfinished business wouldn't happen to go by the name of 'Kate,' would it?"

"Are you trying to make me suicidal?"

"What?"

"Bringing up Kate when I'm going through personal problems. When I'm having a family emergency! Geez, Gibbs. I know you don't like me, but I didn't think you could ever stoop that low!"

"Tony, don't even try to pull this crap with me. I know. I've known for a while. I'm just glad that you do too."

"You knew? And you didn't tell me, gee thanks boss."

"Tony, we both know I couldn't. That, and Kate asked me not to." With that he walked away and started yelling at Ziva for something or other.

God. He hated Ziva. Work was so much better before, he and Kate argued, but they were dumb arguments, that could be settled with a quick Google search, or , of course with Kate elbowing him, and him giving up.

_FLASHBACK: TWO YEARS EARLIER_

"_Tony, I'm telling you! Trust me okay?"_

"_No! You're wrong Katie, you are so wrong."_

"_Trust me, ok? I know this for sure."_

"_Yeah, because you sooooo much smarter than me right Kate?"_

"_Well, not that this is really intelligence based, but the phrase 'uh duh' springs to mind"_

"_Hey!"_

"_Tony just trust me okay, Leonardo is blue!"_

"_No, Leo is red... Raphael is blue."_

"_Nope. Wrong way round!"_

"_Probie! You're a nerd. Back me up here."_

"_Gee, thanks Tony. And Kate's right. Leo was blue and Raphael was red." Tony glared and McGee and then looked over at Kate who was grinning stupidly and sticking out her tongue at him._

"_No fair! Probie only sided with you 'cause you're hot!"__ Realising__ immediately what he had just said, Tony panicked. "I mean, 'cause he thinks you're hot!" _

_Kate stared at him open-mouthed before grinning, licking her lips and turning away, continuing her little 'I was riiiiight, you were wroooong' song" _

"_Oh crap. That's gonna be biting me in the ass for the next few months." _

_

* * *

_

**A/N2: **Thanks for reading. sorry for boring you up there with my a/n and stuff. It needed to be said. Anyone care to guess where Jess stops and I start? Anyway. Review please?


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **"Holy Crap!?" I hear you shouting, "A new chapter?" Well yes, that's right, a new chapter. I know, I know, I haven't uploaded in forever, and this is the smallest chapter you could imagine, but it's what I had to do to get myself back in the groooooove of things. Without going into too much detail, a lot of stuff has happened, I've changed a lot, and... well yeah, a lot of stuff has happened. I've also decided that I'll finish this, and the other stories I have outstanding, and I think that that's the end of my fanfiction writing. I promise that the next chapter will be longer, because guess what? KATE'S IN IT! Hell yeah kiddos! Anyway, read on and hopefully you'll like this tiny installment. I'm so sorry for making you wait this stupid amount of time.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own NCIS, I do not own it's characters, and I do not own anything related to the rights of NCIS.

* * *

This would be the hardest part, Tony knew it. Not because saying good bye to Abby made things final, not even because he was going to miss her, but because the questioning she would do would be a pain in the ass.

There'd be too much of her asking where he was going, and why was he going there? Who would he stay with while he was there? How long would he be gone? Would he miss her? Could she come?

Obviously, the last two questions would be easily answered, _"Of course I'll miss you Abs, but it's family stuff. Plus Gibbs needs you here!"_

He walked out the elevator, practising his little speech. Just as he was about to walk through those sliding doors to upset or, possibly anger, his best friend, she walked out to him, slapped his chest and yelled _"WHAT THE HELL TONY?" _  
"I'm gonna guess you know then Abz?" glancing into the room, Tony saw Gibbs smirking. He mouthed "thanks boss" and rolled his eyes, watching Gibbs laugh at him.  
"You're leaving me? You're really just leaving?"

"No, I'm going away to spend some time with a family member who needs me right now. I'll be back. Trust me, I'll be back."

"You better be. I'm serious Tony, if you don't come back, I'll hunt your ass and make you come back."

"I know you will, I know you will." she sighed and hugged him, "You said goodbye to everyone else?"

"Nah, just you really. I mean, Gibbs knows but I haven't even told Probie. Or that other thing either. Make sure she get's her daily insult, yeah?" Abz nodded and just like that, without another word, Tony walked out. He had a feeling Abz knew more than she was letting on, but he wasn't going to push it, and he knew she wouldn't either. He was going to walk out, and he didn't know when he'd be back. All he knew was that he was going to see her. Finally, he was going to see her.

**Author's Note:** hopefully you didn't hate that, and don't hate me. And hopefully you'll review, and push me for the next chapter. I'm actually looking for someone to help a little with it, so if you're interested, PM me and I'll tell you what kind of thing I need help with. Thanks - IE.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **I wrote this in about 5 minutes, so I'm sorry if it sucks. I kind of like it, even if you don't and that's what writing is about, isn't it? Anyway, I've begun to realise that parts of this story will be a bit fluffy. I can be excused for this because, well, they haven't seen each other in like, forever. He thought she was dead, she thought she'd never see him again. Apologies for thinking _a little_ fluff is allowed! Anyway, fanfiction doesn't send me e-mails, if you know why this is, please tell me! Also, I'm bruised, battered and depressed right now, so even if you leave a not-nice review of the actual chapter, say something nice to me!

**Disclaimer: **Don't own, don't own, don't own... well anything really. I own nothing in regards to NCIS rights, or Kate wouldn't be dead, or, she would, but so would Ziva and her stupid face. The only NCIS thing I own is Seasons 1&2 on DVD, and the mp3 of Sasha singing 'Outrageous' - she's a super-sweet lady (:

* * *

Very few times had Tony DiNozzo been so nervous that he got the 'typical signs'. Right now, he was sitting, sweating, shaking, struggling to breathe. Surely this wasn't normal. He'd nearly died, had guns pointed in his face and spent years around Gibbs. So why should the one time he was most nervous, be now?

He figured that if Kate noticed these signs, he'd tell her there'd been turbulence. Or a madman on the plane. Something scary at least. It seemed silly that he'd be scared of seeing her. He'd seen her a hundred times. He'd seen her looking gorgeous, he'd seen her sick, even though he thought she still looked gorgeous. He'd seen her naked, for God's sake, so why, WHY, was he so scared at the thought of seeing her today?

At this moment, he was sitting in a cab, half listening to the middle-aged Chinese driver tell him about Summerlin's education system. Rather than rudely tell the guy he didn't care, he simply asked how long it would be until they arrived at their destination. The driver sighed and told him it would be about 5 minutes, before continuing the praise of his son's "wonderful" school. Tony started to think about Kate. His nerves became worse. Five minutes. Five, short, minutes. Did she look the same? What had changed about her? She'd been given a new surname, had "they" made her change anything else? It'd been nearly two years now, he knew he'd changed, hopefully for the better, but what if she didn't like the changes he'd made? With so many question running through his mind, he didn't notice the cabbie telling him they'd arrived.  
"Hey! Hey you! We're here"  
"Oh, sorry. Uh, how much do I owe you?"  
"65" Tony handed over the money, and nervously opened his door. The cabbie handed him his bag from the trunk, and he double-checked the number on the door. He felt his hand shaking as he picked up the large, brass door-knocker, and banged it against the solid door.

When he got no immediate answer, he panicked. He knew it was unreasonable, but he started to panic anyway. But as soon as he heard a bang and an expletive, he knew he was in the right place. He stepped away from the door slightly and it slowly opened. There she was, standing in front of him, in tight black jeans and a red v-neck sweater. She had the same beautiful green eyes, the same, soft, glossy, almost-black hair. She was even more stunning than he remembered her, possibly because of the gorgeous, ear-to-ear smile that had appeared on her face. He smiled back at her and took a step forward.  
"Well, well, Special Agent DiNozzo. Come in." She winked as she said his name, and stood back, holding the door open for him to walk in.  
"Why thank you" he smirked, picking up his bag and gesturing towards it, silently asking her where he should put it. Closing the door, she smirked back at him  
"You know what Tony, I couldn't care less" she took the bag from his hand and sat it down on the floor. After looking at her for a second, confused, he recognised the way she was looking at her. He moved closer, moved her hair from her face, and leaned in to kiss her, whispering "I love you" before moving his mouth to hers.

**A/N: **like it? Hopefully, anyway, like I said, leave Rosie some sweet words to make her feel better. By the way, don't know if I mentioned that I had a birthday recently, sweet sixteen baby!


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **I apologise for the time taken in between uploads. I wrote the beginning of this Chapter quite some time ago, but have only gotten around to finishing it today. Quote possibly because I'm currently avoiding coursework. I hope you all like it, because, although my opinion as the writer is skewed, I thought it was okay.

Also, have you ever noticed that when you're writing, it seems a completely different length to when you're submitting? Apologies, as it now seems relatively short to me.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own NCIS, or the characters I have written about in this Chapter, other than Izzie. I simply own the ideas, and the writing material.

* * *

Waking up, Tony moved his hand the the left of him, to check that the past few weeks hadn't been a dream. Sure enough, his hand made connection with a living, breathing, form. He turned to his side and smiled and the sight before him. He didn't think that moments like this really existed until a few years ago. The moment where you wake up, with sunlight creeping in through the window, and your life feels complete. Those corny moments where the you look at somebody, and you really see them. Tony had decided that these were the moments where Kate looked the most beautiful. The moments where she was stirring from her sleep, with the sunlight shining on her hair, and a smile forming. He could remember the moment he'd first seen her that beautiful. In fact, he was sure that never in his life would he forget it.

_FLASHBACK_

_Tony couldn't be sure that last night had happened. He had Kate had been seeing each other for a while. After that night in the hospital, they'd talked and decided to take things slowly. So, they'd... dated. They'd seen movies, they'd eaten food, they'd played computer games. Considering that Tony's illness meant that all of their dates needed to be in Tony's apartment, they'd both decided to wait to take it any further. To their surprise, this had been harder for Kate than Tony._

_They settled down with their rented copy of "Million Dollar Baby". Kate wanted to see it because it had rave reviews and she thought Hillary Swank was an amazing actress. Tony wanted to see boxing, and thought Hillary Swank was hot. After 132 minutes of complete silence from both of them, Kate was in tears and Tony was pretending not to be. Kate looked up at him and her tears turned to laughter,  
"Tony, are you crying?" He sniffled and looked at her  
"No"  
"Awww! Ya big girl!"  
"Shut it Katie" She gave him a sad look and kissed him, asking him if that had made him feel any better. She raised his eyebrows, smiled and kissed her. It was different from the kiss she'd given him. It was softer, it was somehow more significant. Kate broke away from the kiss, and looked Tony in the eye,  
"So, um, and I mean this is totally up to you, it's completely, you know, your choice but," she stopped and bit her lip, "I think that I'm, y'know, ready for us to take this further. I mean, if you are." _

_But now here he was, last night an incredible memory, with Kate lying next to him, with nothing but his t-shirt on. He'd always known she was stunning, of course he had. But right now, Kate looked so good that he was struggling to even remember what Hillary Swank looked like._

_END FLASHBACK_

Tony still laughed to himself when he thought of the caution in Kate's voice. He couldn't believe that she doubted whether he wanted to take their relationship to the next level. After all, he was still Tony! It was at this moment, when he was quietly chuckling, that he felt the soft, gentle kiss on the back of his neck.

"Morning, gorgeous." He turned around to see Kate smiling at him. Her hair was messy and falling freely across her shoulders. She was holding the covers under her arms, and Tony smiled. He'd always questioned her on why she cared, it was nothing he hadn't seen before. Her response had always been to shyly smile and not say a word. Neither of them would ever take that conversation any further.

"Morning." He kissed her and ran his hand over her back. It was only dawning on him now how much he'd missed this. The small moments. He'd missed the drowsiness her voice had in the morning. He'd missed the little freckles on her nose. If he was honest, he'd missed these things without even realising.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing"

"Liar. Don't you think I know you well enough to know when you're deep in thought?"

"I was thinking about..." he stopped, and looked at her. She was watching him so carefully. He could see the love in her eyes. "I was thinking about you."

"What about me?" She came closer to him, and kissed his shoulder, before gently starting to run her finger up and down his arm.

"About all these things I didn't even realise I missed." He looked at her, and she didn't react. He continued what he was saying, "I was thinking about the first time we slept together. About every time we slept together, and about how last night felt so different, but exactly the same." Kate could tell he was confusing himself. She knew what he meant, and made sure he knew that by grabbing his hand, and holding on to it.

"You must have been awake a _long_ time to think about every time we slept together." She rested her head on his chest, and he could feel her smiling. Grinning, even. He kissed her forehead, and let go of her hand.

"You know, the only parts of this house I've seen are the stairs and your bedroom. Don't you think you should show me around?"

"Hmm, I suppose it'd be polite. And then I suppose you've got a lot of questions for me." Kate raised her eyebrows at Tony, who mimicked the action. "Things about Izzie, about me being dead. The usual."

"Yeah, a lot of questions."

"Okay, and I'll answer. But first, your grand tour, and then breakfast?"

"Deal."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Reviews would be most welcome. (I feel very formal today, please excuse the language in my author's notes.)


	10. Chapter 10

I'm sure this isn't a story you'd even considered, or even remember when you got this update, but I felt the need to formally wrap this up.  
Unless things change very dramatically, I don't see me ever being able to give you a satisfactory ending to this story, so I'm just extending my apologies, and letting you know that there will be no more updates to this.

If anybody wants to take over the story, we could arrange something there, because I would like to see it continued by somebody who actually had interest in it.

Thank you for reading in the first place, and thank you so much for all of your reviews and kind words, because even after all this time, they mean a lot to me.

Thank you, sorry and um... THE END?

- Rory.


End file.
